This isn’t to say that it’s going to happen, that it’s likely to happen or that there is anything better than a slight possibility, but the potential for a barnstorming, scarcely believable, straight-from-a-movie sporting tale sprouted from nowhere at the start of this week.
Now let’s see what comes next.
Denmark’s campaign at soccer’s European Championships was destined to be a reminder of how sports, for all its power and meaning, pales in comparison to the importance of real life and the stark fragility that we try to pretend isn’t really there.
After star forward Christian Eriksen collapsed with a cardiac arrest during his team’s opening game, the Danes lost their first two matchups. And frankly, it seemed inappropriate to mention the scoreline when writing about how a man had clinically died on a soccer field and been brought back to life by heroic medical personnel.
“We are thinking of our friend, Christian,” goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel told reporters. “That’s where our minds are focused.”
Denmark was destined to go out of the tournament, and it didn’t matter. Eriksen’s surviving, being taken to the hospital and then released into the care of his family — that was enough. That was the victory. That was the ultimate triumph, the most thankful comeback from the lowest moment, when it seemed for a while that a global audience was going to look on horrified as an athlete, a man, a father passed away.
Except somehow on Monday, the script changed suddenly. No team had ever lost their first two games at a Euros and then managed to make it through to the knockout stage. There were a lot of things out of Denmark’s control going into the final group game. Yet it happened anyway.
Goals from Mikkel Damsgaard and Yussuf Poulsen put Denmark ahead against Russia, but even that might not have been enough. Nearly 1,000 miles away, in the other match in Group B, Finland was holding on against Belgium, and if the 0-0 score stood, the Danes would likely be eliminated.
But no. Belgium got up for a late win, and Denmark kept piling on the goals, winning 4-1 to clinch the second spot in the group. The flickering of magic? Yep, it’s in the air.
“With this team, there are no limits,” said forward Martin Braithwaite, who plays his club soccer for Barcelona. That’s how the Denmark squad feels now — and it’s a powerful force.
Next up is the round of 16 on Saturday and an eminently winnable clash with Wales, which feels all the more feasible with the newfound boost in morale spawned from the Russia game. Back home, Eriksen is truly and wholly a part of it, having visited his teammates in an emotional, surprise appearance upon his release from the hospital.
When Poulsen scored Monday, he made the number 10, Eriksen’s jersey choice, with his hands. Eriksen banners, Eriksen songs, Eriksen tributes were all around the Parken Stadium. Eriksen, of club team Inter Milan, has been a phenomenal player, whatever his future holds. But he might be an even better talisman, such is the way he is inspiring his colleagues.
For Denmark to come all the way back from the brink and actually win this thing would be unique. FOX Bet has them at +1800, ninth-favorites, and there is a mass of excellent teams in the way. It would be incredible, unique, indeed. Except, paradoxically, Denmark did something just as extraordinary in this very tournament once before.
It was back in 1992 when a Denmark team that finished second in their pre-qualifying group and failed to make the Euros were enjoying their summer vacation at various European beach spots when they got word to collect their cleats and get ready for action.
They were awarded the last spot in the field, which opened up only when Yugoslavia, due to the ongoing crisis of civil unrest in that country, were withdrawn as part of sanctions mandated by the United Nations. In came Denmark, and the rest was history.
Just like this time, the 1992 Danes started poorly, with a single point from their first two games. Again, a late revival was in order, punctuated by a heartbreaking story.
Kim Vilfort, scorer of the winning penalty kick in the semifinal shootout against the Netherlands, was wrestling with an impossible personal decision. His daughter, Line, was losing her fight with leukemia, and he returned home to spend time with her, only for his beloved 7-year-old to urge him to go back for the decisive matches.
Vilfort did, and he turned in a majestic performance as Denmark stunned overwhelming favorites Germany to lift the trophy. Tragically, Line died a few months later.
“This is the greatest achievement in Danish sport, as all Danes feel,” Vilfort told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. “It was so surprising, and it fits really well with such a small country, from which a great storyteller comes.”
The storyteller, of course, is iconic author Hans Christian Andersen, he of glorious and beautifully woven fairytales. It might be too much to wish for another one, but the chance is there, and for Denmark, a special feeling is starting to brew.
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